The One We've All Been Waiting For
by MeredithAnn109
Summary: May have a bit of language. It's the day after The Last One, and Ross realizes something...something that was meant to be for many many years...Please read and review!
1. Ross' Idea

**I sadly do not own any of the Friends. Wouldn't it be nice to have Joey? Please Read and Review!!**

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"Oh honey...why did I ever think that I could move on from you?" Ross sleepily asked.

"I don't know...I can't believe I really almost left!" Rachel replied. She was still covered by blankets, not wanting to get out of bed, knowing that their great night was over. After the gang sadly left Central Perk and said good-bye to Monica, Chandler, and their twins, Rachel called her dad and had him bring all of her things to Ross'. Rachel called out to the office in Paris to say she would not be coming. After staying up very late talking about everything from their future back to high school, Ross and Rachel made out, each happier than they had ever been. Both knew that it really was meant to be.

They laid in bed together for a few minutes, then Rachel realized that she would have to start applying for jobs again. While she got dressed, Ross stayed in bed thinking.

'I think it's finally time to...wait...should I?...What if she's still not ready?...But then why did she get off the plane??'

"You okay?" Rachel asked, noticing the confused look on Ross' face.

"What? Oh...yeah," he replied.

"Okay, good," she said, kissing him on the forehead.

"You going somewhere?"

"Yeah...I found my resumes. I'm going to go take them everywhere...I'll be home sometime in the afternoon." She kissed Ross again, grabbed her purse, and excitedly ran out of the apartment. She was back barely a minute later. "Forgot the resumes!" she said with a laugh.

Ross waited another fifteen minutes before he was sure she was gone. He had made up his mind: he was going to propose that night. Even though he was quite trained in proposing, he was still very nervous about this. He decided to call Monica and Chandler, since their marriage was going so well.

"Good morning!" Ross said very cheerfully.

"Dude...why are you up so early?" Chandler asked, mouthing, "It's your crazy brother" to Monica, who was just waking up.

"Chandler, you're never going to guess what I decided to do!"

"Umm...wake me up?" Chandler yawned.

"No, no, it's so much bigger!!!"

There was silence on Chandler's end of the phone. Ross took this as a sign to continue.

"I'm going to propose to Rach tonight!!!!!"

Suddenly, Chandler seemed to wake up. "Really? WOW! That's great! It's about time!" Ross could hear Monica yelling that she wanted to know what was going on, and told Chandler he wanted to talk to his sister.

"Honey, what did you just say that made Chandler so happy?" Monica groggily asked.

"I'm going to propose to Rachel tonight!"

Ross could hear the phone drop and Monica's happy shouts.

"Monica? Chandler?? Hello? HELLO??" Ross said, then yelled, trying to be heard over their shouting.

Finally, Chandler picked the phone back up.

"One question," Ross said, "How do I make this really, I mean really special?"

"Totally surprise her," Chandler replied, "Catch her off guard."

Monica grabbed the phone, "I've got it!" she shouted, "Make up some story that you have to leave for a dino-thing. She'll be sad, you leave a note saying you're at the airport, and propose there!"

"I always knew my sister was smart!" Ross said, "Okay...I have a lot to do...bye!"

"Good—" Monica was cut off by the dial tone. She shrugged, kissed Chandler, and fell back asleep.

Ross hastily got dressed, and went through his dresser drawers. He pulled out an envelope marked "yenom gnir tnemegagnE." He checked in the mirror to make sure he had the right one, smiled to himself over his "clever" labeling method, and set out to buy the ring.

The closest jewelry store was the one where he bought Carol's engagement ring, but that didn't hinder Ross. Within 10 minutes, he had picked out a beautiful ring, and was heading back to the apartment, his heart already beating very fast.

He found some paper and a pen, and with his hand shaking, wrote,

_Rach, _

_Got a call, I have to fly out to Nebraska for a dino-dig. I'll be at Newark airport until around 4:00. Try to come say bye, I don't know when I'll be home._

_-Ross_


	2. The Proposal

Ross spent the rest of the day calling everyone else and letting them know what was going on. Then at two o'clock, he got in a taxi, and headed to the airport for the second time in two days, his heat racing.

He had been sitting in an uncomfortable waiting chair for almost an hour, when Joey ran in, yelling for Ross. They say each other; Joey hugged Ross, wished him good luck, and said that everyone else was waiting down the hall and around the corner.

No sooner had Ross shooed Joey away, did Rachel come running in. She saw Ross, and ran over to him, close to tears.

"Rachel, honey, calm down," Ross said, hugging her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw everyone else peeking around the corner. He quickly turned Rachel around and motioned for them to move back.

Not letting go of Rachel's hands, Ross dropped down to one knee. She gasped, and began to cry.

"Rachel," Ross began, "Yesterday in this same place, I thought I was going to lose you forever," his voice cracked, "I've been separated from you before, and I have no idea how I got by." Now he was crying, "I can't imagine my life without you," he paused to take a breath, "Rachel, I've loved you since I first saw you, so many years ago. Will you marry me?"

Rachel, silently crying, also dropped to her knees, kissing Ross.

Almost five minutes later, Joey led the group around from the corner. "Is that a yes?" he asked.

"It's your call, sweetie," Ross said.

"Yes, of course!!" Rachel exclaimed, hugging her new fiancé.

There were happy shouts, hugs, and tears, no one caring about the commotion they were causing in the airport.

Finally, Rachel began to calm down a bit, only to begin freaking out over wedding details. Monica and Phoebe laughed, saying that they would help her every step of the way.

People were staring at the group, so they decided it was time to go. Joey said he wanted everyone to come back to his place, so Monica called her mother and had her stay a few more hours with the twins. As the happily crying group left, people were still staring.

"What? You've never seen this at an airport before?" Monica asked the gaping crowd.

"Yeah...you should have been here yesterday...that was really interesting!" Phoebe added.

"Phoebe..." Ross said, "I don't want to be reminded of almost losing Rach here yesterday!"

Rachel smiled and hugged Ross. "I think that we're going to be able to look back at yesterday and say 'wow, there was the day that started the rest of our lives together'!".

Joey got two taxi's, and soon everyone was standing in the hall outside his place.

"Umm...do we know where Joey is?" Chandler asked.

"He told me that we'll have to wait out here for a few minutes," Phoebe said, "Apparently some 'last minute preparations'," imitating Joey on the last three words and doing finger-quotes.

"Oooh," Chandler said. then he started yelling and pounding on the door, "Joey! JOEY! Let me in!"

"WHAT are you doing?" Monica asked, dragging him away from the door.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Chandler innocently replied.

Almost half an hour later, Joey opened the door wide enough for his head to poke out. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, using a deep announcer's voice, "I welcome you to Ross and Rachel's engagement party!"

The apartment's lights were dimmed, there were candles everywhere, and old love songs were playing. "Oooh!" Rachel exclaimed, "Joey, this is so sweet!"

"Yeah, man," Ross said, "You really didn't have to do this!"

"Don't worry about it," Joey replied, "Everyone else is helping pay for this!"

Ross looked at his sister, fiancé, and friends. "This is so unreal. Yesterday at this time, I was miserable!"

"Oh, sweetie, I said I was sorry!" Rachel said, hugging and kissing him. The others looked on like proud parents watching their children graduate high school.

Joey sighed.

"You alright?" Phoebe asked, noticing his sigh.

"Oh, yeah...I'm just so proud of them!"

Chandler hugged Joey. "I can't believe it either, man!"

Monica laughed at this, then looked at her brother who was still hugging Rachel and looked happier than ever. "Oh my gosh," she said, running over and hugging them, "You two are getting married!!!!"

At this, everyone else ran over and were in one of their happiest group hugs ever.

They all stayed at Joey's for a few hours, eating, talking, and beginning to plan the big wedding. One by one, they drifted off, Joey left Ross and Rachel slow dancing in the living room, and went to bed, saying they could leave whenever.

When the song ended, Rachel looked at Ross, "Ready to go home, fiancé?"

Ross agreed, and they headed back to their apartment, a happily engaged couple of lobsters.

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_Thank you to all of my early reviewers! There are going to be about 6 more chapters after this, I'll hopefully have it all posted by the end of the week!!_


	3. Early Planning

Although they were very worn out, Ross and Rachel just could not fall asleep. There was so much excitement between them now, and they both knew that they were finally doing the right thing.

Around four in the morning, Rachel finally fell asleep. Ross began stroking her hair, and was soon asleep, a huge grin on his face, and his arms wrapped around Rachel.

By the time Ross woke up the next morning, Rachel was apparently already awake, and he could hear other voices in the living room. He put on his robe and went to see what was going on.

"Good morning!" Rachel said. She was sitting with Phoebe and Monica, and they were surrounded by piles of wedding information, dress catalogs, and photo albums.

Ross slowly looked around, taking in the very, well, girly scene in his living room. "This is going to be us until the wedding, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes!!" Rachel replied, "Isn't this exciting?!"

Ross smiled and hugged her. "This is the most exciting thing in my life!" he said, squeaking on the last word.

Monica laughed at her brother, and went back to flipping through dress catalogs.

"Speaking of the wedding, "Phoebe said, "When is it going to be?"

Rachel looked at Ross, who said, "Honey, you pick the day. I proposed, now it's your turn to do something!"

"Okay..." Rachel said nervously, "Oh, I don't want to mess this up and pick a bad day!"

Before Rachel finished talking, Ross got the calendar from the kitchen, and thrust it into her arms.

After almost an hour of debating over a day, which included calling Chandler and Joey ad having them come over (Chandler had to bring the twins), they all finally agreed on a date. On October 6, Ross and Rachel would be getting married.

Soon, everyone had to head to their homes or work, and Rachel was left alone, amidst the piles of catalogs and photo albums. Suddenly, the entire wedding planning became very overwhelming, and she was soon on the phone with Phoebe, and was freaking out.

"Food? Where are we having it? Are weddings expensive? Where should I get my dress? Reception??" Rachel asked in a rush, not even saying hello.

"Rach, Rach, calm down!" Phoebe said, "You have five months to do this, and five people that are going to be more than ready to help you!"

"Aww, thanks!" Rachel sighed, sounding very relieved. "Want to help me with everything today?"

"Rach, I've got to get to work! I'm already an hour late!"

"Ohh..." Rachel replied, sounding disappointed.

"But afterwards, we'll all come over and we can plan, okay?"

"Alright, thanks!"

"Bye!"

After Rachel hung up, she reached for the photo album from Ross' wedding with Carol. Monica had brought it, and said that that was the wedding to beat, since it was his longest lasting marriage thus far.

Flipping through the pages, Rachel got more of a glimpse into Ross' first marriage. He looked so happy in all the pictures, but they were just so young, barely twenty. She wondered if Carol knew before the wedding that she was a lesbian, and whether or not there were really no signs of that. This led her to playing the "what if?" game. What if Ross and Carol never got divorced? Would Rachel have found someone, or never run out on Barry? And what about Ross and Emily? What if their marriage lasted longer than it did?

The questions were scaring Rachel, and she had to remind herself that her and Ross were together, and were meant to be. She sighed, put down the photo album, and decided to go job hunting again.

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**I will try to get the rest of this story up today or tomorrow!! Thank you for all the reviews!!**


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